One Magical Night
by Sara Wolfe
Summary: What if the events in "Bride" had gone just a bit differently?


**One Magical Night**

_**Four weeks earlier…**_

"Guess I can give these well-heeled puppies a rest."

Lois started to walk past Clark as a slow song started playing, but he caught her hand and stopped her from leaving, giving her a small, shy smile when she looked back at him curiously. Clark tipped his head toward the dance floor and Lois relented after a few seconds, allowing him to pull her out on the dance floor.

They started dancing with nearly a foot between them, but soon Clark pulled Lois close enough that she could feel his breath warm on her cheek. It tickled, and she shifted slightly in Clark's arms, willing herself to look anywhere but his face. She just had to maintain her composure for as long as the song lasted, which seemed to be forever.

She just had to keep from looking at his face. If she looked into his eyes, if she let him see what she was feeling right now…she couldn't do it. She wasn't strong enough to be that vulnerable in front of Clark. Not again.

Then, some klutz just had to bump into her, sending her stumbling into Clark's arms. Clark tightened his arms around her waist and Lois looked up, instinctively. She swallowed, hard, when she met Clark's eyes, but to her surprise, he looked just as nervous, just as scared, as she was.

Feeling like she was about to leap off a cliff, Lois stepped closer to Clark, placing a hand on his chest. Clark tightened his arms around her waist, pulling her even closer, and he bent his head down to hers. Lois tipped her head back, and then their lips met. Everything but the man in front of her faded away.

In the distance, Lois thought she heard Chloe exclaim something, but it was nothing more than noise, compared to being in Clark's arms. She snuggled closer as he deepened the kiss, and Clark released one hand from her back to run his fingers through her hair, freeing it from the clips and tumbling it around her shoulders.

Finally, reluctantly, Lois pulled away, and Clark let out a small protesting sound that made her smile. She couldn't tear her gaze away from Clark's face, and neither could he, from the way he was staring at her. Lois honestly couldn't say how long they stood there, lost in each other, but they were pulled from their reverie by the sound of a throat clearing, nearby.

She and Clark turned around to see none other than Lana Lang watching them, a strange expression on her face. Then, the expression was gone as quickly as it appeared, so fast that Lois almost thought that she'd imagined it.

"Clark," Lana cooed, "it's so wonderful to see you again."

Lois raised an eyebrow at the syrupy tone of the other woman's voice, biting back a retort at how neatly she was being ignored. She shot Clark a quick look, and found him staring intently at her before he turned back to Lana.

"Lana," Clark said, his voice cool but not unwelcoming. Not at Chloe's wedding. "It's good of you to come and see Chloe. You're enjoying yourself, I hope?"

"Clark," Lana repeated, her voice lightly chiding. "You almost sound like you're not happy to see me."

Lois would have expected Clark to crumble at her disapproving tone, but he surprised her.

"There's a buffet set up in the corner," Clark replied, ignoring Lana's baiting comment. "Feel free to help yourself."

"After everything we've shared," Lana said, and now her voice had cooled, considerably, "this is all you have to say to me?"

"There's nothing more between us, Lana," Clark told her, quietly. "You made sure of that."

He turned to walk away, and when Lana tried to follow, Lois stepped in her path.

"I wouldn't," she told her.

"Get out of my way," Lana snapped, her voice brittle and hard with anger. "This isn't any of your business."

"I love Clark," Lois told her, quietly, firmly. "That makes it my business. And I'm not going to let you hurt him."

Without waiting for a response from Lana, Lois went after Clark, following him to where he'd gone up to the loft.

"Are you going to regret that later?" she asked, quietly, settling beside him to lean on the railing as she looked down over the wedding reception.

She was expecting nothing less than maybe; after all, the other woman had been a major part of Clark's life, for better or worse, for the last seven years. But, Clark continued to surprise her.

"No," he told her, and she looked over at him in astonishment. "No," he repeated, firmly. "I'm not going to regret what I said to Lana. It was nothing less than the truth."

"What prompted it?" Lois asked, genuinely curious, now, and Clark looked at her with an undecipherable expression on his face.

"You did," he answered, simply. Touched, Lois had to blink back tears, and Clark took advantage of her momentary distraction to step closer and lean down for another kiss.

Then, all Hell broke loose…

_**Present Day, At the Planet…**_

"Hey, how was the honeymoon?"

Chloe grinned as she perched on the corner of Lois's desk.

"Well, for being four weeks late, and with Jimmy still recovering from being nearly eviscerated, it was absolutely perfect," she said. "I still can't believe that Oliver gave us tickets to Hawaii for a wedding present."

"That's just the kind of guy that Ollie is," Lois remarked. "So, did you guys have fun?"

"We had a blast," Chloe said, enthusiastically. "Jimmy and I went all over the islands, exploring and taking pictures. I swear, we took a ton."

"I can't wait to see them," Lois told her. "And, how's Jimmy doing, anyway?"

"He's doing great," Chloe said. "I can't believe how well he's recovered in just four weeks."

"Well, you know," Lois said, softly, "when your new wife can heal people-"

She let her voice trail off as she looked pointedly at Chloe, who had the grace to blush.

"I know I should have told you sooner," she admitted.

"Clark blabbed," Lois told her. "Not that he had much of a choice, seeing as how you'd snuck Jimmy out of the hospital under everyone's noses and I went off on a doctor because I thought they'd lost him."

"You yelled at a doctor?" Chloe asked, incredulously.

"I went in and Jimmy wasn't there, and no one could tell me when he'd checked out," Lois told her. "What was I supposed to think?"

"We were kind of hoping no one would notice," Chloe admitted.

"Yeah, how's that working out for you?" Lois teased.

"Okay, so we ran into a few problems," Chloe said, admitting defeat.

"At least you and Jimmy are doing okay," Lois told her.

"What about you?" Chloe asked. "How are things with the new happy couple?"

"Fantastic," Lois said, a smile on her face.

"Details," Chloe pressed, eagerly.

"Later," Lois said, looking over at Chloe. "Now, I need your help."

"Name it," Chloe said, instantly.

"I need you to distract Clark for the day," Lois told her.

"Distract Clark?" Chloe asked, skeptically. "He's your partner. Aren't you two supposed to be working together?"

"Yeah, well, today's different," Lois said. "I need Clark out of the way, and so, of course, he's constantly underfoot. He wants to pick me up for work, wants to check out a tip together, wants to get lunch together, wants to work on our copy together, it's like he can't let me out of his sight for a minute."

"What happened to fantastic?" Chloe demanded, shaking her head. "Don't tell me there's trouble in paradise already," she teased. "You guys have only been dating since Jimmy and I got married. You can't possibly be tired of each other already."

"There is no 'trouble in paradise'," Lois assured her. "Things couldn't be going more perfectly, which is something I never thought I'd say about anyone, let alone Clark Kent."

"Then why all the avoidance tactics?" Chloe asked, curiously.

"There is just something really important that I need to do," Lois hedged, "and I can't have Clark finding out about it."

"What's so important?" Chloe pressed.

"I can't tell you," Lois insisted. "You'll tell Clark."

"How well do you know me?" Chloe demanded. "Come on, Cuz, you know me better than that."

"Yeah," Lois said, "and I also remember that time when I got the tattoo, and you blabbed to the General five minutes after he walked through the door."

"I was ten!" Chloe protested, laughing.

"You haven't really changed much from that point," Lois teased her.

"Oh, come on," Chloe wheedled. "Please, Lois? I promise, whatever it is, I won't breathe a word to Clark."

"Not knowing is driving you insane, isn't it?" Lois laughed.

"Absolutely," Chloe admitted, instantly. "You know I can't stand not knowing things."

Lois sighed, but finally pulled her upper desk drawer open slightly and eased her hand inside, pulling something out in her loosely-closed fist. Looking furtively around, she leaned in closer to Chloe and carefully opened her hand to reveal a small blue jewelry box. She opened the box to reveal a small flash of silver, and Chloe carefully lifted out a small, plain men's wedding band.

She gasped, her mouth dropping open as she turned the band over in her hands.

"It's gorgeous," she breathed, her voice barely above a whisper.

"It's not much," Lois said, her uncertainty showing through for the first time.

"Are you kidding?" Chloe demanded. "It's perfect. Clark's gonna love it."

"You really think?" Lois asked, quietly.

"I think-" Chloe started, but quickly clammed up when Clark appeared almost out of thin air behind Lois, snapping her hand shut over the wedding band and hiding her fist in her lap, beneath Lois's desk. Lois dropped the box into her desk drawer and quickly shoved at the drawer, spinning her chair around so that she was facing Clark.

"What's up, Smallville?" she asked, brightly.

"Are you hiding something?" Clark asked, suspiciously, trying to peer around Lois to see into her still-partially open desk drawer.

"Hiding something?" Lois asked, her face the picture of innocence. Chloe groaned softly when Clark only looked more suspicious at her denial.

"We're just talking, Clark," Chloe said, quickly, leaning forward and closing the door the rest of the way. "Girl stuff. You wouldn't be interested."

"All right," Clark agreed, good-naturedly. "You'll tell me sooner or later."

Lois rolled her eyes at him, and Clark grinned.

"Don't forget," he said, "we've got a meeting with that accountant from LexLabs in a couple of hours."

"I'm not going to forget," Lois said, exasperatedly.

Clark smiled, leaning in, and he and Lois shared a quick, tender kiss that practically made Chloe's heart melt. Lois's face had gone soft and relaxed, and Chloe could barely keep herself from cooing over the warm look in her cousin's eyes as she looked after Clark.

"You've got it bad," she remarked, instead, after biting back all the sappy comments that would probably get her smacked.

"You see what he's like?" Lois demanded, ignoring Chloe's comment. "I've been trying all day to make reservations at that new Italian place over on Fifth Avenue, and just make everything perfect, and I can't shake him. He's everywhere."

**XXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX**

"I'm telling you, she's everywhere!"

"CK, I think you're paranoid," Jimmy said, when Clark stopped by his desk.

"I'm not paranoid, I'm going insane," Clark muttered. "Lois just won't leave me alone."

"Exactly how are you trying to drive your girlfriend away?" Jimmy asked, curiously. "Which, I got to say, not really your brightest idea. What if it sticks?"

"I'm not trying to drive Lois away," Clark said, defensively. "I'm just trying to get away from her long enough to make dinner reservations."

"And-" Jimmy prompted, when Clark didn't seem inclined to go on.

"I'm trying to hone in on her work," Clark finally admitted. "We may be partners, but Lois is still possessive about her stories. I thought if I made a big enough nuisance of myself, Lois would find some contrived reason to go off on her own, leaving me alone to make my plans."

"Why can't you just go your separate ways without all the fuss?" Jimmy asked.

"Tess assigned us a story to work on together," Clark told him. "And, while normally I'd love working with Lois, today-"

"Today you've got other priorities," Jimmy finished for him. "Can I see the ring, again?"

Clark sighed as he pulled the ring box out of his pocket and passed it over to the other man.

"What is your fascination with Lois's engagement ring?" he asked.

"I'm fascinated by the idea that Lois is going to wear something so girly," Jimmy said, grinning. "Hey, do you want me to keep this for the day? So you don't lose it, or have Lois find it, or something?"

"That's probably a good idea," Clark said, as Jimmy tucked the little box safely away in his shirt pocket. "Oh, and Jimmy, one more thing."

"What?" Jimmy asked, curiously.

"You cannot tell Chloe about this," Clark told him.

"You're asking me to keep a secret from my wife?" Jimmy asked.

"If you tell Chloe, she'll tell Lois," Clark explained. "I don't want this ruined. I want to make this really special, something Lois will always remember."

"Trust me, CK," Jimmy assured him. "She's never going to forget this."

**XXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX**

"What changed with you two?" Chloe asked, her curiosity piqued. "I mean, you two seem really happy, especially these past couple of weeks, but you've never really seemed to be the marrying type, Lo."

"I know," Lois said, "but Clark makes me happier than anyone I've ever been with, and we spent all day together yesterday-"

"All night, too?" Chloe interrupted, teasingly, and Lois gave her a withering look before relenting.

"Yes," she admitted, and Chloe's grin got wider. Lois ignored the smug expression on her face.

"It was magical," Lois continued, softly, her mouth quirking into a grin as she remembered how she'd described her and Clark's relationship to Ollie when they'd been undercover.

"Magical is good," Chloe told her, still smiling. "Now-"

She was interrupted by the sound of a door slamming open and Tess Mercer bellowing across the bullpen, "Lane! Kent! My office!"

"Trouble with the boss?" Chloe asked, in an undertone, as Clark came over to where they were sitting and waited for Lois to join him.

"Nothing we can't handle," Lois reassured her, and then she and Clark walked across the bullpen, disappearing inside Tess's office.

Chloe watched the closed door for a few moments, and then turned, smiling, to look over at Jimmy, only to see her husband quickly hide something when he noticed her watching him.

"What's in your hand?" Chloe asked, nonchalantly, sauntering over to Jimmy's desk.

"Nothing," Jimmy said, quickly, his tone defensive. "What's in yours?"

Chloe gulped, realizing that she still held Lois's ring for Clark in her hand.

"Nothing," she responded, just as quickly. "Hey!" she yelped, a second later, when Jimmy reached out and quickly grabbed the box from her hand. "You're not supposed to be looking at that!" she protested.

Not bothering to answer her, Jimmy opened the lid, raising an eyebrow when he saw the ring inside. Then, wordlessly, he passed the box in his own hand over to Chloe, who whistled softly in appreciation when she saw the beautiful ring Clark had bought Lois.

"They have no idea," Chloe said, softly. "What I wouldn't give to be a fly on the wall, tonight."

"You and me, both," Jimmy replied. "Hey, you think we should tell them?"

"Tell who what?"

Both Chloe and Jimmy jumped in surprise when Lois appeared over Chloe's shoulder, looking suspiciously at Jimmy when he fumbled to hide the ring box still in his hands.

"Nothing," Jimmy said, rapidly, his voice coming out in a surprised squeak.

"Uh huh," Lois said, still scowling. "Chloe, I need to talk to you."

She practically dragged her cousin back to her desk, and then held her hand out, impatiently.

"I need Clark's ring," she said, brusquely. "Tess is sending us out on some piddly little assignment, cutting into our interview time with the guy from LexLabs, which I doubt is a coincidence."

"Can't you just come back for the ring?" Chloe asked, nervously, as she turned to see Clark talking, quickly, to Jimmy.

"No time," Lois answered, and Chloe reluctantly handed the box over. "I'm going to make reservations at Giovanni's from the car."

"Lois, wait-" Chloe said, suddenly, but her cousin wasn't listening.

"I've got to go, wish me luck," Lois said.

"Good luck," Chloe said, weakly, watching as the other woman walked off, quickly joined by Clark as they boarded the elevator.

A few seconds later, Jimmy joined her at Lois's desk.

"Chloe, hon," he started, hesitantly, "was Clark's ring in a silver box?"

"No," Chloe said, distractedly, "it was blue-"

She broke off when she realized that the ring box she'd handed over to Lois had been silver, and just what Jimmy was getting at.

"Oh, no," she gasped. "Lois has her own ring."

"Yeah, and Clark has his," Jimmy confirmed. "What was that you were saying about being a fly on the wall?"

**XXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX**

"Are you sure this guy's going to be here?"

"Stop fidgeting, Smallville," Lois hissed, softly, as they entered the main lobby of LexLabs. "Act any more nervous and you're going to blow our cover."

"What did you call this guy again?" Clark asked, quietly, as they approached the front desk in the middle of the lobby.

"He's a corporate informant," Lois hissed back. "Now, be quiet."

Pasting a falsely-bright smile on her face as they reached the desk, Lois told the receptionist, "We're here to see Harper Carmichael."

"Do you have an appointment?" the woman asked, giving them a frosty glare as she looked up from her computer – her game of Solitaire, Clark discovered, after peeking through the back of the computer.

"Lois Lane and Clark Kent," Lois told her, still with that fake smile on her face. "We've got a six o'clock appointment with Mr. Carmichael."

"I don't see your names," the woman said, huffily, as she gave her list a cursory glance.

"Right there," Clark said, quickly, jabbing his finger down on the paper before a fight could break out between Lois and the other woman.

"Fine," the woman snapped, staring at their names in clear black and white. "Mr. Carmichael's office is last on the right, down that hallway."

She buzzed them through the door, and Lois grinned triumphantly as they walked down the hallway.

"Why, exactly, are we meeting this guy here?" Clark asked, softly. "Isn't it a little dangerous for us to be meeting him here, at LexLabs, when he's squealing on his bosses?"

"If Carmichael took time off work to meet us in secret, then it would look suspicious," Lois told him. "Making an appointment makes this seem more legitimate."

"He's trying to keep his job while he's ratting out his bosses?" Clark asked, skeptically.

Lois just shook her head slightly when they reached Carmichael's office, and Clark knocked, lightly. A few seconds later, a very nervous young man opened the door a tiny amount and motioned them inside. Clark let Lois precede him into the office and then shut the door behind them.

"Mr. Carmichael," Lois greeted him. "Lane and Kent from the Daily Planet. We had an appointment."

"I – I – yes," the man stammered, swallowing hard and shooting the closed door a fearful look.

Clark, interpreting the look, leaned back against the door, blocking it from both sides, and gave the man what he hoped was a reassuring smile.

"It's okay to talk to us," he said. "No one's listening."

"I shouldn't have called you here in the first place," Carmichael said. "I never should have called the Daily Planet."

"But you did," Lois pressed him. "You said you had something to talk about. You said it was urgent. Life or death."

"I – no," the man said, firmly. "I don't have anything to talk about. Not to a couple of nosy reporters from the Daily Planet."

"That was a quick change of heart," Lois remarked.

"I'm a very busy man," Carmichael said, quickly, his tone and movements still radiating fear. "You need to leave."

"Did someone threaten you to keep you quiet?" Lois asked. "Tess Mercer, perhaps?"

"You need to go," Carmichael repeated, shoving past Clark to abruptly pull the door open. Then, he flinched when a pair of men smiled coldly at him from the hallway.

"Harper," one of the men said, smiling. "We need to have a word. Your guests were just leaving, I trust?"

"Yes, sir, Mr. Gant," Carmichael stammered. "They – they were just leaving."

"Good day, Ms. Lane, Mr. Kent," Gant said, turning to them. "If you require a security escort out of the building-"

"We can find our own way out, thanks," Lois cut him off. "Come on, Clark."

Grabbing his elbow, she pulled Clark down the hallway, and as soon as they'd rounded the corner, they stopped.

"We're not really leaving," Clark realized, when Lois pulled him into a nearby storage closet, leaving the door open a tiny bit so that a sliver of light showed from the hallway. Lois pressed her eye carefully to the crack.

"Of course not," she told him.

"Carmichael was lying," Clark continued. "He's hiding something."

"Of course he was," Lois said. "But, someone got to him before he could talk to us."

"So-" Clark prompted.

"Okay, here's the plan," Lois said. "We know that whatever they say they're doing isn't what they're actually doing, so we'll just stay here until we see them doing it - we should have brought some lunch."

"I've got granola bars," Clark offered.

"No, I'm good right now," Lois said. "I just hope this doesn't take too long."

"Do you have plans?" Clark asked, curiously, even as he looked down at his own watch.

"Something like that," Lois said, absently. "I just want to be out of here by seven."

"Yeah, me too," Clark said. When Lois looked over at him, he quickly clarified, "I've got cows to feed at home."

"Cows to feed," Lois repeated, and for a moment, Clark was afraid she was going to challenge such a flimsy statement, but thankfully she let it go.

"You know," Lois said, after a while. "I hate just sitting here and waiting for them to come by so that we might catch them at something. I wish we could hear what was going on in there."

"Lois," Clark said, slowly, taking a chance he never thought he would. "Lois, I can hear them."

"What are you talking about?" Lois demanded. "They're down a hallway and around a corner, not to mention behind a closed door. We couldn't hear them if they were yelling."

"I can hear them," Clark repeated. "I started listening as soon as we left the room. Carmichael's insisting he didn't tell us anything, and – and Gant just reminded him of the consequences of lying to his bosses."

"You're serious," Lois said, slowly. "You really can hear them down there?"

"Every word," Clark told her. "As clear as if they were standing right here."

He waited, almost fearfully, for her reaction, but Lois only raised an eyebrow as she looked back out at the hallway.

"Anything we can use?" she asked, quietly.

"Nothing concrete," Clark told her, willing himself not to be disappointed by her seeming lack of reaction to his revelation. "They keep talking vaguely, like they think someone might be listening."

"Like us?" Lois asked, wryly.

Suddenly, Clark's watch started softly beeping, and he and Lois both clapped their hands over the watch to muffle the sound.

"You couldn't turn that off," Lois hissed, softly, as Clark struggled with shutting the sound off. "Someone's going to hear us."

"I'm trying," Clark hissed back.

He managed to turn his watch off just as footsteps sounded in the hallway, and Clark and Lois stilled when a trio of men marched past the storage closet, briskly.

"Carmichael's with them," Lois said, in an excited whisper.

"Doesn't that hallway go toward the stairs to the roof?" Clark asked, as they poked their heads out of the storage closet to follow the men's progress.

"They can't really be pushing him off, can't they?" Lois asked, looking back at Clark. "That would just be stupid."

Clark just raised an eyebrow as he looked out after the men, and then he and Lois sprinted out of the closet and down the hallway, after the men. They ran up the stairs, Clark hard on Lois's heels, and burst through the door to the roof in time to see Gant and his partner urging Carmichael toward the edge of the roof.

"I have a wife," Carmichael was protesting, panicked. "I have two daughters."

"Oh, they'll be well taken care of by your life insurance policy," Gant told him. "We wouldn't be heartless enough to let your family suffer in the wake of your tragic suicide."

"Don't do this," Carmichael pleaded. "I swear, I didn't tell Lane and Kent anything."

"I wish I could believe you," Gant said, sympathetically. "But, seeing as how you arranged a meeting to betray me behind my back, I really can't trust anything you say."

"Please," Carmichael repeated, but Gant simply shook his head, and the two men pushed Carmichael off the edge.

Lois shouted, as she and Clark rushed the men, and then Lois shouted, again, in a panic when Clark took a swan dive off the roof, after Carmichael.

"Clark!" Lois screamed, just as Gant grabbed her.

Snarling, Lois spun around, ripping her arm out of Gant's grasp and punching him in the jaw, sending him crumpling to the ground. Turning back, she dashed for the edge of the roof, praying to see Clark and Carmichael hanging onto a ledge below. Then, as she reached the edge, she felt a hard hand on her shoulder, and as she fell, she saw the face of Gant's partner sneering down at her.

There was a moment where Lois felt completely weightless, like she might just float away. Then, she felt the wind buffeting her, and heard the wind whistling past her ears, and wondering if it was true what they said about life flashing before one's eyes. Because all she could think about was whether or not she'd told Clark she loved him. She couldn't remember.

She closed her eyes as she continued to fall, not wanting to see her own death coming at her, but snapped them open a few seconds later when a pair of strong arms grabbed her. She looked up in shock into Clark's blue eyes and realized that she was cradled safely against his chest.

"Don't worry, Lois," Clark murmured, still staring down at her. "I've got you."

"You've got me?" Lois echoed, weakly. "Who's got you?"

Clark chuckled, and Lois craned her head around to see that they were indeed floating in midair, and not both dead, like she'd half-feared.

"Are we flying?" she asked.

"Well, hovering, technically," Clark told her, and Lois smacked him gently on the shoulder.

"You idiot!" she exclaimed, her voice choking up, slightly. "I thought I'd lost you. Don't you ever do that to me, again."

"I'm sorry," Clark apologized, quietly. "I was trying to catch Carmichael. I didn't even think-"

"Carmichael!" Lois said, suddenly, as she remembered Clark's reason for diving off the roof in the first place.

"He's fine," Clark hastened to assure her. "He's down on the ground tossing his cookies. Apparently free-falling doesn't agree with him."

"You think he'll agree to turn on Gant, now?" Lois asked.

"Gant's still up there," Clark said, looking up toward the roof.

"Let's go get him," Lois said, eagerly.

She and Clark shot back up toward the roof in time to see Gant and his partner almost to the rooftop access door, and Clark dropped Lois off near the edge before zipping around in front to cut them off. Gant backpedaled and bolted back for the edge of the roof, where his face connected with Lois's fist, and Gant's partner almost comically ran into Clark's chest, knocking himself out when he fell backwards, heavily.

"You," Lois said, as they tied the now-unconscious men up with the zip ties Lois had handy in her purse, "are going to be so screwed if anyone recognizes you."

"I don't think they will," Clark told her. "I think all anyone saw was someone flying."

"The Red and Blue Blur Saves the Day Again," Lois said, quoting what was likely to become their next headline. "When the cops show up, let me do the talking, okay?"

"Ask for Detective John Jones," Clark advised, when she pulled her cell phone out. "He's a good guy. I trust him."

"He knows you're the Blur, you mean," Lois clarified. "Good. This has been a long enough day to have to add lying to the cops to it."

"The Blur," Clark repeated, frowning. "Not that I'm complaining about having a secret identity, but there's got to be a better name than that."

"Give me a minute to think on it," Lois told him, as she dialed the number of the Metropolis police department.

Within minutes, John Jones and a whole team had shown up and quickly arrested Gant and his partner and were escorting them off the roof. Jones had taken Carmichael, who was back on the roof thanks to Clark, off to one side and was talking to him, quietly. Every time Carmichael gestured urgently at Clark, Jones gave him a tolerant smile and said something that had the other man frowning in obvious confusion.

Finally, Jones escorted the other man over to where Lois and Clark were waiting, and smiled at them.

"Lane. Kent," he greeted. "Mr. Carmichael, here, was just telling me about how he was saved by a flying man when he was pushed off the roof."

"The Red and Blue Blur," Carmichael said, an almost reverent tone in his voice, and Lois smirked at Clark who was standing slightly behind the other man.

"He saved me, too," she said. "It was amazing."

"Sounds like you've got quite a story," Jones said, a knowing smile sliding over his face as he looked from Clark to Lois.

"Sure do," Lois said. "Saved By Superman, has a nice ring to it, don't you think?"

Behind Carmichael's back, Clark mouthed, _'Superman?'_ in exaggerated incredulity. Jones nodded in approval and Carmichael practically lit up at Lois's words.

"Superman!" he exclaimed. "That's a perfect way to describe him. He's just so-"

"Super?" Lois finished, wryly.

"Exactly," Carmichael said, in satisfaction.

He looked like he wanted to say more, but Jones intervened.

"Why don't you go on down to the sidewalk with Officer Wallace, over there?" he suggested, nodding at a man in uniform standing at attention by the rooftop access door. "I'll be down in a couple of minutes to take the rest of your statement."

Carmichael complied, and Jones waited until he and the officer had left the roof before turning to Lois and Clark.

"Did you brainwash that man, or something?" Lois asked, but Jones ignored her comment.

"You're lucky I convinced him that he didn't really see you," he scolded Clark, who had the good grace to blush.

"That's what I told him," Lois said, shooting Clark her own exasperated look. "He needs a costume or something."

"No costume!" Clark interjected, hastily. "I am not wearing tights!"

"We'll see," Lois said, and Clark sighed, glaring at her.

"No tights," he repeated, firmly.

"I see you two have things well in hand," Jones interrupted, breaking into their squabble. "I just need statements from both of you."

"Um," Lois said, looking over at Clark who looked completely clueless. "Well, Gant pushed Carmichael and then me off the roof, and we were saved by Superman, who flew off after we were safe, and Clark was busy in the stairwell calling the police."

"That's workable," Jones told them, jotting down the details in his notepad. "Keep working on it, though. You need to be able to come up with something plausible without hesitating - for the next time."

"Lois is better at that than I am," Clark admitted, giving her an affectionate look.

"You both have your strengths," Jones said. "It's good that you know how to make them work together."

Looking back at the still-open door, he added, "I need to lock that door when I leave the roof. You two can get down from here, I imagine?"

"Yeah," Clark said, as he wrapped an arm around Lois's waist. "We'll be fine."

"I'll see you later, then," Jones said, turning and walking back to the door. Just before he left the roof, he added, "For the record, Superman is a very fitting name for the hero who's been saving our city."

"You hear that?" Lois said, leaning into Clark's embrace. "You're a hero."

"I don't really feel like a hero," Clark told her, quietly. "Lois, when I saw you falling, my heart almost stopped. I was afraid I wasn't going to reach you in time."

"But you did," Lois told him, quietly. "Clark, I'm fine."

"What if I'm not fast enough, next time?" Clark pressed, worriedly. "Lois, maybe-"

"Oh no," Lois yelped, twisting Clark's wrist as she looked down frantically at his watch. "Is that the right time?"

"Yeah," Clark said, slowly, and then his eyes widened as he saw the time. "We missed dinner!"

"How did you know about that?" Lois demanded, accusingly, staring at Clark. "I made those reservations in private."

"I was talking about my reservations," Clark explained, and then Lois's words sunk in. "Wait a minute," he said, suspiciously. "What did you have reservations for?"

"You first," Lois said, giving him a hard look.

"Well," Clark said, relenting, "I was going to ask you to dinner, but I guess it's too late now."

"I was going to ask you to dinner," Lois admitted, reluctantly. "I – I had a question to ask you."

"What kind of question?" Clark asked, curiously.

"Well," Lois said, looking around, "I guess here is as good a place as any."

She pulled a small jewelry box out of her pocket, and opened it with a flourish.

"Clark Kent, will you – wait a minute, that's not the ring I bought."

"No," Clark said, slowly, as he pulled a ring box out of his own pocket. "That's the ring I bought. Which makes this-"

He opened the dark blue box to look at the ring Lois had bought for him, and Lois looked from ring to ring in shock, before a reluctant smile broke over her face. Clark gave a low chuckle which quickly turned into loud laughter. Lois joined him, leaning on his arm for support as she wiped tears of laughter from her eyes.

"Chloe's right," she said, breathlessly. "We really are too much alike."

"I'd say we're just perfect," Clark told her, and Lois smiled at him.

"What do you say, Lois?" Clark said, teasingly. "Want to make our professional partnership a personal one?"

"I'm not changing my last name," Lois said, warningly.

"How about a hyphen?" Clark suggested. "Lois Lane-Kent has a nice ring to it."

"Lois Lane-Kent," Lois repeated, testing it out. "I like the sound of that."

"Me too," Clark told her.

"Forever sounds pretty good, too," Lois continued, and Clark grinned, happily.

"You think we should tell Chloe and Jimmy?" he asked.

"Tomorrow," Lois told him. "Right now, we've got a story to file, and then I want you all to myself for the rest of the night."

"You've got me for the rest of our lives," Clark replied.

"You are such a sap," Lois said, affectionately. "Come on, Superman. Let's go home."

Clark easily swung Lois into his arms. "Hope you like flying," he said, and then took off into the sky.


End file.
